nghttp2/nghttp2

Features

• HTTP/2 Protocol Implementations - Provides a low-level C implementation of the HTTP/2 protocol, including framing, multiplexing, and flow control.
• HTTP/2 Support - A low-level C implementation of the HTTP/2 protocol for handling framing, stream multiplexing, and flow control.
• C Network Protocol Implementations - Provides a memory-efficient C library implementation of the core HTTP/2 protocol logic.
• HPACK Header Compression - Implements stateful HPACK compression and decompression using static and dynamic tables for header blocks.
• Stream Limiters - nghttp2 sets a preliminary maximum for outgoing concurrent streams to prevent request rejection before settings are received.
• Flow Control Window Managers - Regulates data transmission rates using credit-based windows to prevent sender overflow and manage memory.
• Header Event Callbacks - Triggers custom application functions whenever a header name and value pair is received during stream processing.
• Analysis & Benchmarking Tools - A collection of benchmarking and debugging tools for analyzing HTTP/2 server performance and network traffic.
• Protocol Negotiation - nghttp2 selects the best mutually supported protocol from a preference list to establish a prioritized connection.
• Network Data Reception - nghttp2 invokes a callback function whenever the session needs to read incoming data from the remote peer.
• Network Data Transmission - nghttp2 invokes a custom callback function whenever the session needs to send protocol data to a remote connection.
• Binary Frame Serialization - Implements the binary wire format serialization required for HTTP/2 framing and network transmission.
• Stream Multiplexing - Manages multiple independent request-response sequences over a single connection using unique stream identifiers.
• Protocol Event Callbacks - nghttp2 triggers a custom callback function whenever a frame is received to allow for custom logic and state management.
• Request Data Transmission - Implements the transmission of HTTP/2 requests including custom headers, trailers, and body payloads.
• Header Block Decompression - Inflates compressed header blocks into a readable format using single-block or chunked processing.
• Callback-Based Event Dispatchers - Uses a registered set of callbacks to dispatch protocol events for managing sessions and streams.
• Data Reception Callbacks - nghttp2 triggers a callback function whenever a chunk of data within a data frame is received.
• HTTP Header Compression Engines - Implements HPACK compression using dynamic tables and static dictionaries to reduce network header bandwidth.
• Stateful Decoders - Initializes stateful decoders to inflate name and value pairs from compressed HPACK header blocks.
• Resource Fetch Priorities - Optimizes server bandwidth distribution by determining the processing order and weight of streams using a dependency tree.
• Wire Format Serialization - nghttp2 defines a custom callback to format extension frame payloads into the binary wire format for transmission.
• HTTP/2 Parameter Configuration - Adjusts connection and stream window sizes, header table sizes, and maximum concurrent streams.
• Lifecycle Event Callbacks - nghttp2 triggers a custom callback function when a stream is closed to allow for resource cleanup.
• Protocol Version Verifiers - nghttp2 provides standardized identifiers and tokens to negotiate connections over both secure and cleartext transport.
• Stream Priority Trackers - Initializes default stream weights and exclusivity to manage server resource allocation.
• Protocol Extensions - Allows implementing non-standard frames and payloads within an HTTP/2 session via custom callbacks.
• Frame Transmission Interception - nghttp2 triggers a custom function before a non-data frame is sent to allow for inspection or modification.
• Invalid Frame Handling - nghttp2 triggers a custom callback function when a non-data frame is received that does not conform to specifications.
• Transmission Error Handlers - nghttp2 triggers a specific function when a non-data frame cannot be transmitted to allow the application to react.
• Version Negotiation - nghttp2 selects the most appropriate application protocol from a preference list during the handshake to determine version.
• Frame Header Interceptors - nghttp2 triggers a custom function when a frame header is received to react before the payload is processed.
• HTTP Header Validations - Enforces specification-compliant naming and lowercase constraints on HTTP/2 header fields.
• Conformance Error Handling - Triggers custom callbacks when the protocol receives header pairs that lack conformance to specifications.
• Binary Serialization Protocols - nghttp2 converts a list of settings entries into a binary payload for use in requests or handshakes.
• Network Traffic Analyzers - nghttp2 inspects network activity via verbose logging, hexadecimal dumps of decrypted traffic, and transaction exports.
• Priority Header Parsing - Extracts priority information from header field values and stores it in objects for resource allocation.
• Protocol Extensions - nghttp2 registers specific extension frame types to be processed by user-defined callbacks when received.
• Protocol Frame Monitoring - nghttp2 triggers a custom function after a frame is dispatched to monitor or log outgoing network traffic.
• Protocol Option Initialization - Creates configuration objects with default settings to control the behavior of the protocol implementation.
• Session Performance Tuning - Tunes network session performance by adjusting window updates, ping acknowledgments, and stream rate limits.
• Traffic Proxying - Routes requests between clients and backends while managing encryption and protocol translation.
• Custom Memory Allocators - Allows applications to provide custom memory allocation and deallocation functions for internal protocol structures.
• Secure Connection Managers - nghttp2 authenticates clients using certificate and private key files and manages server certificate verification.
• Reference-Counted Memory Blocks - Tracks data buffer usage via reference counts to ensure memory is freed only after all components release access.
• Throughput Measurement - nghttp2 measures requests per second and response latency across multiple addresses to evaluate throughput and stability.
• Priority-Based Request Queues - Manages resource priority using a combination of dependency-based trees and urgency levels.
• Session Callback Initialization - Creates reusable sets of callback functions to standardize how multiple network sessions handle protocol events.
• Performance Benchmarkers - nghttp2 measures the throughput and latency of a server by simulating high-load traffic with multiple concurrent streams.
• Overhead Measurement - nghttp2 measures total bytes received and header compression savings to determine the communication overhead of the network protocol.
• Server Performance Benchmarking - Measures request throughput and latency for various protocol versions using configurable concurrency.
• Duration-Based Load Testing - Executes server benchmarks for a specific timeframe with optional warming-up periods.
• HTTP Traffic Simulation - Simulates varied traffic patterns by distributing requests across multiple URIs using a round-robin strategy.
• Network Performance Benchmarks - Includes tools for measuring server throughput, response latency, and reliability under high concurrent loads.
• DevOps & Infrastructure - HTTP/2 library and tools
• Networking Libraries - C library for the HTTP/2 protocol.

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